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DECREE No

DECREE No.7-CP OF FEBRUARY 5, 1996 OF THE GOVERNMENT ON THE MANAGEMENT OF PLANT SEEDS

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

To enhance the effect of the State management of plant seeds, to raise their productivity and quality, and rapidly multiply good seeds in service of the production;

At the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,

DECREES:

Article 1.- In this Decree the terms below shall be construed as follows:

1. A plant seed is a collection of agricultural or forest plants of the same specy and with hereditary identity, which is characterized by the difference from plants of the same specy in one or more properties which shall remain unchanged after reproduction (biogenetic or agamogenetic).

2. The seed shall include any propagative part of plant used in agricultural and forestrial production, such as: seeds, bulbs, tubers, stems, leaves, seedlings, grafted shoots, scions, buds, flowers, spores or tissues kept for seed.

3. The local seed is the one which has existed in a locality for a long time and in a rather stable manner, with properties and features which are distinctive from others' and may be passed to the following generations.

4. The breed seed (also called the author's seed) is the one which the author(s) has/have selected, crossbred or taken from the gene fund with stable heredity.

5. The foundation seed is the one which has been produced from the breed seed strictly in line with the process for foundation seed production and with the quality up to the standards stipulated by the State so that it may be further multiplied for the following generations.

6. The certified seed (also called the commercial seed) is the one of the last generation of the foundation seed, used for large-scale production but not kept as seed for the following generations.

7. Gene source (gene fund) is the source of germs of plants and wild vegetation, which are preserved for use in seed selection and crossbreeding.

Article 2.- The State exercises uniform management of plant seeds, including the protection, improvement and development of seed resources, the management of seed trading, export and import in order to constantly raise the quality of plant seeds.

Article 3.- The State encourages and protects the legitimate interests of domestic and foreign organizations and/or individuals conducting activities in research, selection, import, export, production and trading of plant seeds on Vietnam's territory.

Article 4.- The State shall invest the budget capital in:

1. Improving material basis and ensuring the operation of the State agencies and units in charge of the preservation of gene funds, and the selection and creation of plant seeds and management of their quality.

2. Training cadres specialized in conserving gene funds, selecting, crossbreeding, experimenting preserving, producing and trading plant seeds.

Article 5.- The State shall set up an anti-natural calamity reserve fund of seeds of a number of important seasonal plants. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall be responsible for managing the seed reserve fund. The utilization of this fund shall be decided by the Prime Minister.

Article 6.- The State shall work out policies on tax exemption for the production of breed seeds, foundation seeds and newly selected, crossbred or newly imported seeds at the proposals of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces or cities directly under the Central Government.

Article 7.- Organizations and/or individuals, engaged in the production and/or trading of plant seeds, shall be entitled to credit loans at reasonable interest rates; the loan term shall be determined according to the production cycle of each type of plants.

Article 8.- Gene sources (or germs of plants) used for seed selection and crossbreeding are the national property, which shall be uniformly managed and invested in by the State so that they may be collected and preserved at designated scientific research institutions. The State encourages organizations and individuals to seek for, exploit, utilize, exchange, protect and enrich gene sources, which are benificial to the State policy and the people's welfare.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development shall stipulate a list of rare and precious gene sources and regulations on the management of the exchange, exploitation and utilization of the listed gene sources.

Article 9.- Plant seeds which are newly selected, crossbred or imported, before being put into large-scale production, must go through experiments or trial production.

Organizations and/or individuals having seeds for experiments or trial production must register with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development the seeds' names, origins and properties as well as the place of trial production and production process, and must report on the results to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Basing himself on the results of the trial production, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development shall decide to allow the seeds to be regionalized or put into production.

Article 10.- Persons who have created new seeds shall be entitled to register them with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment for their copyright, as prescribed by law.

Article 11.- Organizations and individuals of different economic sectors, engaged in the production and/or trading of plant seeds, must meet all the requirements of the production process of each seed grade (breed seeds, foundation seeds or certified seeds) and must be licenced for the seed production by the competent agricultural agency in conformity with the stipulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Article 12.- The State encourages and creates favorable conditions for organizations and individuals to cooperate with foreign organizations and individuals in producing, selecting and crossbreeding plant seeds in accordance with the production requirements.

Article 13.- All kinds of marketed seeds must be affixed with labels and have quality control certificates as required for each seed grade.

Seeds sold on the market must be packaged in accordance with the packaging standard.

All acts of producing and trading fake seeds, seeds of poor quality, mixed seeds, seeds with pest or disease germs or seeds which have not been certified, are strictly forbidden.

Article 14.- Organizations and/or individuals, engaged in the production and/or trading of plant seeds, must conduct their activities in accordance with the licenses granted to them and shall be subject to the inspection by the quality control agency of the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development.

Article 15.- Organizations and/or individuals engaged in the import of seeds must abide by the regulations on the import and export of goods and the Ordinance on the Plant Protection and Quarantine.

The dossiers of application for seed import shall be jointly stipulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Trade.

Within 15 days from the date of receiving the regular dossiers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must reply, and in case of a disapproval, the reply must be made in writting.

Article 16.- Plant seeds imported into Vietnam in the forms of gifts, aids or other forms, shall be subject to the provisions of the Ordinance on the Plant Protection and Quarantine.

Within 15 days from the date the seeds are imported into Vietnam, the organization or individual that receives the seeds must report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Article 17.- Organizations and/or individuals that have imported plant seeds useful for the production and recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall be rewarded. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in providing for in details the form and amount of reward.

The plant seeds research and production establishments, when importing breed seeds or foundation seeds, shall be entitled to import tax exemption.

Article 18.- Organizations and/or individuals having a need to export plant seeds must fill all the procedures as stipulated by law for the export of agricultural products and must pay fees in accordance with regulations currently in force.

Article 19.- The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development shall stipulate a list of rare and precious plant seeds and germ sources to be banned from export, and the list shall be promulgated periodically.

In special cases where seeds are allowed for export, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development shall propose to the Prime Minister for decision.

Article 20. - The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development shall perform the State management with respect to plant seeds in the whole country, including such links as: collecting and conserving gene funds, researching, selecting and crossbreeding seeds, experimenting, putting on trial production and recognizing new seeds, producing, trading, importing, exporting, assessing, examining, quarantining seeds and controlling the quality of plant seeds; and shall be responsible for guiding activities regarding plant seeds within the scope of his management:

1. Submitting to the Government or the Prime Minister for promulgation the drafts of legal documents on policies and regimes for the management of gene sources and plant seeds; documents to direct, guide and inspect localities, establishments and individuals in implementing regulations on the management of plant seeds and promulgating technical processes and procedures within their competence;

2. Establishing Vietnamese standards on plant seeds, to be submitted to the competent agency for issuance;

3. Granting or proposing the competent agency to grant or withdraw certificates of new plant seeds, and other permits concerning the production, trading, import and export of plant seeds in accordance with this Decree;

4. Issuing regulations on experimenting and examining seeds, on trial production, on storing, preserving and evaluating plant germ sources or newly imported seeds; setting up or appointing a scientific research institution to conduct the above activities;

5. Drafting plans and programs on the establishment of a national system of plant seeds; submitting to the Government plans on the investment in support of the seed research, crossbreeding and popularizing new seeds and raising the seed quality;

6. Working out and evaluating international cooperation projects on plant seeds;

7. Examining, inspecting and handling violations in the management of plant seeds in the whole country.

Article 21.- The People's Committees of the provinces or cities directly under the Central Government shall be responsible for implementing and guiding the management of plant seeds through the State management system of the Agriculture and Rural Development branch as follows:

1. Organizing the management of plant seeds in localities in accordance with the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

2. Issuing documents, guiding the performance of State management over plant seeds in the localities;

3. Deciding the grant or withdrawal of plant seed trading licenses in the localities within the scope of their competence;

4. Inspecting and handling violations in the management of local plant seeds within their competence.

Article 22.- Managerial bodies of all levels in the agricultural branch, from central level to the level of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, shall have to organize periodic or extraordinary examination of the quality of plant seeds, and supervise and inspect the implementation of this Decree.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall stipulate the regime for the examination and inspection of plant seeds and define competent levels for organizing periodic or extraordinary examinations.

Article 23.- Vietnamese and foreign organizations and/or individuals conducting activities in the field of plant seeds on Vietnam's territory shall have to abide by this Decree.

Article 24.- Organizations or individuals having achievements in managing the selected plant seeds, improving seed resources, creating new seeds, rapidly multiplying seeds, guiding the development of good seeds in the production, shall be rewarded.

Those who commit acts of violating this Decree shall, depending on the extent of the damage caused by his/her violation to the State, organizations or individuals, be subject to penalties and material compensations, as stipulated by law.

Article 25.- This Decree takes effect from the date of its signing.

The earlier stipulations, which are contrary to this Decree, are now annuled.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall coordinate with the concerned agencies in guiding, urging and inspecting the implementation of this Decree.

Article 26.- The Minister, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People's Committees of provinces or cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decree.

On behalf of the Government

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

PHAN VAN KHAI